Aggie running named to preseason Maxwell Award list for national player of the year

New Mexico State University running back Larry Rose III has been selected for the Maxwell Award watch list, announced the Maxwell Football Club on Tuesday. The Maxwell award has been given to America’s College Player of the Year since 1937.

Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Rose was named to the Associated Press All-America Third Team. He was the only Sun Belt Conference (SBC) student-athlete chosen for this prestigious honor after the 2015 season. In addition, Rose was the first Aggie earn this since Karl Dean, who was selected to the Third Team in both 1974 and 1975.

In addition to his All-American honors, Rose was named the SBC’s Offensive Player of the Year. He led the league with 1,651 rushing yards and had 14 touchdowns on 240 carries. After running for 1,102 yards as a freshman, Rose became the first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher for the Aggies since Denvis Manns (1995-98).

The sophomore broke the NM State all-time single season rushing record just 10 weeks into the season with 191 yards against UL-Lafayette. He finished the season ranked sixth all-time in the SBC single season rushing yards.

A native from Fairfield, Texas, Rose had three 200-yard rushing games and seven 100-yard rushing games. He rushed for a career-high 260 yards over New Mexico, but the highlight of his season was a 212-yard, four touchdown rushing performance against Idaho on Oct. 31. He scored two touchdowns in the final 3:56 of the game to force overtime before adding a touchdown in extra time to lift NM State to a win.

Rose’s 1,934 all-purpose yards also led the conference. He amassed four 200-yard all-purpose games and nine 100-yard all-purpose games. Rose earned back-to-back SBC Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week awards after stellar performances against Idaho and Texas State.

Additionally, Rose III racked up 283 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 30 receptions. This included a flat-pattern pass, which Rose carried 77 yards for a touchdown at Texas State.